The present invention relates to pedal operated watercraft, and more particularly to an improved pedal operated watercraft inexpensive to build with ease of handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,274 issued to Jack T. Gregory, entitled "Pedal Operated Watercraft" disclosed a watercraft having a catamaran hull system with parallel rear pontoons pivoted from the trailing end of front pontoons, for side to side oscillation in steering.
The watercraft therein was steerable from a back support, moved relative to a rigidly supported drive system. The operator of the watercraft steered by moving his back in one direction while twisting in his seat to maintain good powered engagement with the bicycle-type foot pedals.
The watercraft further included a pair of pull cords with pull handles to enable the driver's arms to powerably assist the pedal motion. The pull cords enabled power to be added from the operator's arms to the pedals during the one half turn of each pedal while it is travelling in the direction of the operator.
Mechanical power was applied from the pedals to a propeller through a rotary drive and a tubular drive shaft housing. The Pedal Operated Watercraft, as previously described, embodied many improvements over other, previously known watercraft.
As technology advances, so should improvements to novel watercraft such as those described in the above watercraft. Such improvements should include improved structure to improve the performance of the watercraft. Needed is a method of improved steering so that during the steering of the watercraft, the operator's ability to supply power to the propeller is not diminished.
Other improvements needed include a method to augment power to the pedals from the operator's arms both when a pedal is travelling toward the operator and when a pedal is travelling away from the operator. The manner of supplying mechanical power from the pedals to the propeller should be as efficient, simple and inexpensive as possible.
Since most watercraft, such as the type described above, involve the operator of the watercraft riding significantly above the water, the center of gravity of the watercraft with the rider is fairly high. The high center of gravity causes, during turning of the watercraft, the outside pontoon to dig into the water, increasing its water resistance, while causing the inside pontoon to raise up higher from within the water, decreasing its water resistance.
When turning, the outside pontoon typically travels faster than the inside pontoon, but if the outside pontoon experiences a relatively increased water resistance, over that experienced by the inside pontoon, the turning action is inhibited. What is therefore needed, by way of improvement, is a watercraft which compensates for the effect of a high center of gravity by counteracting the forces produced by the high center of gravity on turning.